Early career (1947–1958) Gossett, under his real name, wrestled his first match in 1947 against Lucky Gilpin at a benefit show run by local restaurateurs in Chattanooga. After the match, he was paid with a 25-lb turkey. Known collectively as the "Golden Grahams", they were a successful
villainous tag team on the east coast of the United States, main eventing six shows in
Madison Square Garden against
Antonino Rocca and
Miguel Pérez. They held the
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) on four occasions from September 1958 to April 1960, winning the belts three times in victories over
Don Curtis and
Mark Lewin, and once against the Bastien Brothers (
Red and
Lou Bastien). Graham reunited with Jerry in
Calgary in 1962, and he briefly returned to the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, formerly Capitol Wrestling) in 1964 to team with him. This led to a series of
Russian Chain matches between the two. It also grew to involve the
NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Florida version), which Graham won from
Johnny Valentine on June 10, 1968, only to lose it to Malenko on July 4. In September 1970, Graham took over booking and promoting for the CWF. He also trained several wrestlers, including his son Mike,
Bob Orton Jr.,
Bob Roop,
Hulk Hogan,
Paul Orndorff, and
Steve Keirn. Two years later, he bought half interest in the
Orlando Sports Stadium, which he renamed the Eddie Graham Sports Stadium. On June 27, Graham and
Killer Karl Kox defeated
Hiro Matsuda and Yoshimura Michiaki to win the
All Asia Tag Team Championship. Four days later, on July 1, they lost the titles to
Giant Baba and Michiaki. In January 1967, he wrestled for the
International Wrestling Enterprise (IWE) as part of its "Pioneer Series" tour. Graham did not appear for another Japanese promotion until February 1974, as part of
All Japan Pro Wrestling's (AJPW) "Excite Series" tour, where he remained until March. == Personal life ==